King Abdullah tells Kerry he will press Sunnis to join Iraq govt

June 29, 2014 6:02 AM

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SHANNON, Ireland: Saudi King Abdullah pledged in talks with US Secretary of State John Kerry to use his influence to encourage Sunni Muslims to join a new, more inclusive Iraqi government to better combat an Islamist insurgency, a senior US official said on Saturday.

After a week of frenetic diplomacy by Kerry tackling the threat of Iraq’s disintegration, Abdullah’s assurance marked a significant shift from Riyadh’s insistence on the removal of Iraqi Prime Minister Nour al-Maliki.